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PRETEXT FOR WAR Bamford, James. A Pretext For War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies. Doubleday. 2004. 420 pp. $26.95.
Bamford, author of two investigative studies of the National security Agency, The Puzzle Palace and Body of secrets, applies his talents to the events surrounding 9/11.
He begins with a riveting chronicle of what happened on September 11, including the most complete account of what took place and why the hijacked planes were not shot down. A few American fighter jets took off in hot pursuit but were not armed. Others were being fitted with air-to-air missiles, but there was no time to finish loading them. Even...